York West
The '''York West '''branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located on the westbound side of the A64 near Bilbrough, North Yorkshire. Address and Onsite Information '''ADDRESS: '''Bilbrough Top Services, A64, Bilbrough, Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, YO23 3PP '''ONSITE FACILITIES: '''BP, Hursts (forecourt), Costa Express (forecourt), McDonald's, Scott's Fish and Chips, Premier Inn (Book Room) History Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Little Chef grew significantly all over Britain's road network under the ownership of Forte who were a well respected company. With numerous restaurants opening each year in this era at various different A-road and motorway sites all over the UK, other roadside operators, soon realised the success of the chain's expansion and therefore decided to increase the presence of their own roadside restaurant brands, one of which was Happy Eater, a chain which offered a similar fare to Little Chef. Like Little Chef, Happy Eater saw a significant growth in restaurants all over Britain's A-roads and motorways and one of the sites which they operated from was the Bilbrough Top service area, located next to the Bilbrough Top crossroads on the westbound side of the busy A64 just outside of York. Although Bilbrough Top was one of Happy Eater's smaller sites, due to the fact that there was nothing more than a filling station trading alongside the restaurant, the busy A64 still made the restaurant very popular and due to a number of factors such as the lack of alternative options nearby and the amount of holidaymakers travelling from the sunny, seaside town of Scarborough just down the road popping in for a bite to eat whilst on their journeys, it was a common place to stop. In 1990/91, a Little Chef restaurant opened up at a small service area located approximately a third of a mile west of Bilbrough Top. The restaurant was known as the York East branch and it was built specifically in order to serve eastbound traffic heading towards York and Scarborough. With the Little Chef serving the eastbound side and the Happy Eater serving the westbound side, this gave travellers in the area a bit of choice. By the mid 90s, Forte, who acquired Happy Eater in 1986, decided that they were going to phase out a majority of the Happy Eater brand and replace it with the more profitable Little Chef brand in which they also owned. York West was one of the sites to receive the treatment and transformed from Happy Eater to Little Chef between 1993 and 1995. This gave the eastbound Little Chef a sister site and they both ventured on together. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bilbrough Top Services grew significantly. For starters, the services received a McDonald's and Premier Inn hotel to trade alongside the Little Chef and filling station, providing a second restaurant option and a place for those weary travellers to turn in for the night. In addition to this, the adjacent junction was improved significantly as the once dangerous crossroads were replaced with a grade-separated bridge junction, thus making access to the services and the use of the junction much safer. The improvements took place around 2004 and were completed in 2005. Unfortunately though, it was around this time when the Little Chef recieved some bad news. By 2004, then owners, Permira, were keen to sell Little Chef and, to make it more saleable, decided to slim down Little Chef's portfolio, putting 131 sites up for sale including York West. It closed in 2004/05. Fortunately though, its eastbound partner continued to solider on until 2018. Since the closure of the Little Chef, the building has played host to a couple of independents and today it trades as a Fish and Chip restaurant called Scotts Category:Former Little Chefs Category:Former Happy Eater Sites Category:Current McDonald's Sites Category:Little Chefs on the A64 Category:2004/05 Closures